The "Rubicon report"

[crazy4mopar]

I would like to say you guys (and gals) Rock!! My son and I had a blast. Jes, Excellent leading, Richard thanks for the welder and bolts, Crash, thanks for welding my junk together (and the window :D ) Matt and Kevin thanks for the help with the U-joint straps, Stoney (the Smore B*tch) thanks for the Ice.
James, you guys need professional help! ;) thanks for the spare tire, Scott, Running the Rubicon is cool.... Using your California duster in the middle of the trail ......Priceless :D .
I look forward to the next run guys!

[crazy4mopar]

My damage on this trip:
busted window, rock rash 6 times, smashed bumpers, pushed in door handle, busted u-joint straps, busted valve stem, tweaked rim, broken antenna, and lots of weird noises now......:cool:

[Stoney]

YEA dude that run was pretty PHAT! can't wait to do it again! Crazy i'd wheel with u anytime!!

stoney

[SeanP]

Bummer! Sorry I missed out on all the fun, we worked hard on thursday night to get my shiat finished. Got halfway to Truckee before I noticed that all the oil leaked from my t-case. Good news is that the vehicle is highway capable, the 38s on hummer rims and the 1 tom running gear sure sap a lot of power from the 4.0. I think there will be a stroker or 5.0 in the works this winter.

Jes if you log on to this thread, PM me info about dealing with leaky rear seals on the Atlas.

Sean"I never wheel, I just wrench"P

[CRASH]

Had a great time, glad I was able to get my junk together for this trip. Thanks goes to Jes for the inspiration and help last weekend.

Sorry we missed you Sean, what a bum deal on the Atlas. Let me know if you need any wrenching help after the 4th.

Richard, thanks for the use of the welder on my tranny mount bolts, they are still holding up even after my Robby Gordon-like launch up the slabs!

I'll post pics tonight.

CRASH

[JTBOSCO]

I had a graet time on the Con I am glad I decided to make it. Even with all the damage to my rig.

Cardinal,looking forward to seeing you again.

Brit, Next time you need to bring spares,spare wine.

Major thanks go out to Richard and Matt for helping me out with my junk and getting it all welded together.

I have before and after pics I will post.

James

[Lupine]

Gotta say, that was one of the better Rubicon trips I've been on, despite the fact that it was WAY. TOO. SHORT. Very cool group of people.

Jes, thanks much for making it all possible. :D Now you know why I'm accommodating whenever y'all come up to visit.
Funny thing, karma.

Jenni, an absolute pleasure to finally have met you, Ethan, and Daniel. I'll be trying to ID those reptiles, and will PM you with the info.

Jen, hope to see more of you on these trails.

Bosco, man, I'm sorry about the spillage. I know you couldn't help yourself. :puke:

See y'all at Swamp!

[Lupine]

JT, no worries - I had no idea that we were actually gonna make this trip. I promise I'll be properly supplied the next time.:cheers:

[JTBOSCO]

Hey my girfriend will be emailing you soon. I told her what a whack job you are you two should get along real good.

[CRASH]

Lovely, my wife, the whack job.

CRASH

[Brewmaster]

Hey Guys,

I had a great time and really enjoyed meeting you all. Thanks for letting me tag along.

I'll try to put some pictures up later in the week, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to post on the internet. If you guys send me your email addresses, I can send pictures of your rigs and the group shot to you. My address is jtuft@echelon.com.

-Jacob

[SeanP]

Wait a sec...

Crash, I talked to you Thursday PM trying to guilt-trip you into going, but you said that you had some important meetings to attend Friday. When did you make the decision to "call in sick"? Was my guilt trip effective? Sorry I missed you.

SeanP

[ShinyXJ]

Hey all,

Dad and I had a really great time, this was definitely one of the most fun trips I've done since I moved out here to CA and all of your fine company made it even better. Sorry for taking off without saying goodbye to anyone! We headed up to the pavement to swap that plugged tire and fix a few other loose ends and figured we'd see you guys on the way out, but we only ran into Lee. What a great group to wheel and camp with. I've never been so entertained around the campfire and the food and margaritas (thanks Jesse!) this trip was excellent.

Mighty thanks to everyone for great spotting and help with my tire and ARB compressor! Looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me to get my shiny junk fixed and ready for the Dusy but Amy and I will be looking forward to seeing all of you again soon.

Total carnage for me included a blown ARB compressor o-ring, one destroyed tire, some very ground up cover bolts on my Dana 44 (I've never backed up so many times in my life as I did yesterday!) and one barely visible indentation in the passenger rear quarter panel...still shiny! Driving open yesterday was a challenge but a lot of fun too. I really enjoyed getting "hecka-stuck" and high centered right before Gatekeeper on the way out. Thanks for the tug Lee!

Hope everyone made it home safe and sound and in one piece. Be well, and we'll see you soon. I'll post a URL for pics as soon as I get them up...

Scott

[JP]

Well since stuck in a web wheeler cyclone lately, I eagerly await some carnage pics.......... please. Sounds like another successful SC event. Wish I could have joined ya'll. Gotta, just gotta make it to Swamp this year. Hoping to be con ready mid next month.

Jeff

[CRASH]

Sean,

I did have important meetings on Friday, and I only told you I couldn't go Friday morning......never said anything about Friday night! We left work at 5:30, and rolled into camp at about 1am.

I'm offering this little prayer to a higher power:

Dear God,

I really miss my friend Sean. He is fun to wheel with, but it's been so long, I can hardly recall. Please God, let his junk hold together for a single weekend so that I can enjoy his company again.

Thank you,

CRASH (aka Andy, but you already knew that, what with that omniscient thing and all)

[Goatman]

Originally posted by CRASH

Dear God,

I really miss my friend Sean. He is fun to wheel with, but it's been so long, I can hardly recall. Please God, let his junk hold together for a single weekend so that I can enjoy his company again.

Thank you,



AMEN!

Sean, we missed you. You HAVE to be close to running reliably so we can all have some fun together. It was nice to see you and Marni, if only for a few minutes......thanks again for the hospitality.

Yesterday was a long day..........I pulled in the driveway at 2 AM. I woke up this morning to my picture on the front page of today's LA times in an article about the fight over Surprise Canyon.

I had a great time, as usual. I love the 'Con, it's a great combination of scenery and good wheeling, with some of the best camping spots anywhere. Thanks to you Sierra chapter folks for putting together another great run. I came away with new dents in two doors.......need to learn to be more careful. ;)

JT, I hope the weld holds until you can get it all apart and fixed. A good reminder for all of us to keep an eye on all suspension bolts to make sure they're tight. The welder got a good workout this weekend, now I need to get off my butt and send it in to get it fixed so I don't have to mess with connecting and disconnecting it each time. We found why it wasn't charging the battery that time, the connection came apart on the field wire to the alternator as Keven was helping me hook it back up after welding on James's rig.

Next time I run the 'Con, I want to stay longer!! :)

[FarmerMatt]

Amen Andy. We miss you Sean. Hope everything goes well from now on. Your lucks got to turn around sometime.

As for the trip all I have to say is good people, great camping, great weather, & a great trail make for a very nice trip. Looking forward to wheeling with you all again.

Matt

[Jes]

Very good run everybody, I'm glad everyone had a good time. I am completely exhausted, traffic was terrable by the time I got to the Bay Area near 11P.M.! We cirtainly helped out quite a few folks on the trail on Sunday. Welded up a Toyota and a ZJ. Some interesting pics on POR of that ugly Chevy that we saw at the top of the slabs(Santa Rosa 4X4 club sticker), looks like he rolled it at the top of Walker Hill, pretty ugly.
Here's some of the pics I took...
http://www.fototime.com/{5664FF5A-7169-458F-9704-69E18E3B5280}/picture.JPG
http://www.fototime.com/{C4E7BBB2-E687-4C55-AFDA-1424F2C215AB}/picture.JPG
http://www.fototime.com/{95A85651-34D7-413C-BED1-544029288F15}/picture.JPG
http://www.fototime.com/{A916DAED-08ED-4CC2-AFC3-7C9AEE6D9EEF}/picture.JPG
The rest are here...
http://www.fototime.com/ftweb/bin/ft.dll/pictures?userid={0641A5A9-DB40-46BE-9569-B61D5BC8B151}&tio=0

Jes

[WesternXJ]

Outstanding trip!! Got home about 10pm. :eek:

Thanks for leading it Jes, great job. Thanks Richard for the passenger seat. It was great to see some of the folks I don't get to see too often.

Need to do it again, only take some more time at the lake.

And Stoney: "Follow me, I don't have any spares". :D

However, I'm having dreams about talking socks with hands in them.

And I'll never be the same after having spent time around the campfire with Cardinal Sin and his three Bishops :kissyou: :moon: :nono: :wantyou:

[Handlebars]

Great pics Jes! I looked at them all. You're really making me miss the Sierra Nevada. :(

[Jes]

Alex, come out here in August! :D

Jes

BTW, was I the only one who took any pictures?!?
Come on people let's see 'em! :)

[CRASH]

Yeah, I need pics of the Toyota junk I welded on. I'll try to post some of mine tonight, but they aren't all that exciting.....

CRASH

[Jes]

Check this out...
http://jeepsunlimited.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=405225&perpage=20&pagenumber=1
...local boys do good on the Rubicon. :)

Jes

[CRASH]

Now I know my fame is secure......I have my picture on JU!

CRASH

[crazy4mopar]

My contribution :D
http://crazy4mopar.tripod.com/conwash.jpg

http://crazy4mopar.tripod.com/jammed.jpg

Priceless!
http://crazy4mopar.tripod.com/shinyxj.jpg

Was that my spare that fell out?
http://crazy4mopar.tripod.com/stoney.jpg

http://crazy4mopar.tripod.com/view.jpg

[Jes]

http://crazy4mopar.tripod.com/shinyxj.jpg

:D :D


Jes

[JTBOSCO]

Well the trail repairs are holding fine. Total carnage:

One track bar mount,and end of track bar
One busted motor mount
Two tore up lower control arms(stock)
Some rock rash

[ShinyXJ]

I knew I should have been more discreet with the feather duster! Burn it!

[Lupine]

Shiny,

Your dad is OFF THA HOOK. I'm not kiddin. Any guy who can dish out that kinda crap is coooOOOOoool.

[Brewmaster]

I finally figured out how to post pictures on this forum.....


The Group:
http://www.fototime.com/125D4412317FBA5/standard.jpg

The Springs:
http://www.fototime.com/0AE3205170FD07E/standard.jpg

Crash's Handiwork:
http://www.fototime.com/1D092F60D3EBA59/standard.jpg

Busted again......hey, it doesn't stay shiny by itself!
http://www.fototime.com/8719D745C4AE255/standard.jpg


You can see them all here:

Foto Time Picture Alblum (http://www.fototime.com/inv/F1A2FD5E2BE0D98)

I made some 360 degree panaoramas that you can view with Quicktime (free if you don't have it). It's pretty cool, you can pan around in a complete circle using the mouse.

I have one for:

Cadillac Hill
Buck Island Lake
Some spot on the trail
Some other spot on the trail.

They're pretty big (500K-2M) but I can email them to you if you're interested
http://www.fototime.com/3345078FB98927F/standard.jpg

[crazy4mopar]

Originally posted by Lupine
Shiny,

Your dad is OFF THA HOOK. I'm not kiddin. Any guy who can dish out that kinda crap is coooOOOOoool.
Yup,Cardinal Sin is Coool

[Jes]

Cool pics Jacob.
Cardinal Sin, huh, guess I missed something when I went to bed Friday night? :D

Jes

[Gary E]

Where is that pic of Richard that Jes posted? Its not looking familiar.

We just got back, from a great first trip to the con. I will let Zion put a post up for that one. :)

Did you guys attempt little sluice? I was planning on trying it but a toy was making it look extremely difficult.

[Goatman]

Originally posted by Gary E
Where is that pic of Richard that Jes posted? Its not looking familiar.

We just got back, from a great first trip to the con. I will let Zion put a post up for that one. :)

Did you guys attempt little sluice? I was planning on trying it but a toy was making it look extremely difficult.

The pic that Jes posted of me was going up True Sluice, and going to the left side around that big rock in the middle of the trail.

None of us tried Little Sluice this year. We drove over there from Buck Island on Saturday, but didn't get there until close to 6:00, and we still had to drive back to Buck Island. We watched a number of people go through, but it was a little late and none of us wanted to test the karma since it had already been a long day.

The next time I do the Rubicon, I want to take more time. More time to play on the fun stuff, more time to hike and swim, and more time to relax around camp.

[ShinyXJ]

I finally got a chance to get a page together with all the pictures I took on the Rubicon backwards mission a couple weeks ago. There are some OK wheeling shots but a lot of interesting pictures of the usual suspects I took around camp and around the campfire. If you want to check 'em out, point your favorite browser to:

http://xjzone.designermeat.com/Trails/rubicon03/index.html

Thanks again to everyone who made this a fantastic trip. I'm just about fixing all the crap I broke, though I have a few pictures I need to post for a second opinion on bent/kinked lower control arms. See you on the Dusy in a few weeks...

Scott

[JTBOSCO]

I finnaly fixed my junk as well. New upper and lower control arms. New motor mounts. New drop bracket and hiem joint. I didn't really need to replace the uppers but i figured what the hell I need more strenght. Lots of fun.

J.T.


P.S. When is Dusy?

[Goatman]

Really nice write up and pics, Scott. Thanks.

[Jes]

Very cool, Scott.


Jes